Previously known as "caloriesandcoffee.com."
I am on a quest to change my life by losing 100 pounds and becoming healthy and fit. My plan involves counting calories with My Fitness Pal, keto and working out. I'm not striving for skinny, I'm striving for fit!

Monday, July 31, 2017

The July 30-day step challenge is complete and I hit my goals nearly every day! And the days I had to rest, I took the official rest days and used them to catch up so I'm very happy with how that went.

So we have two challenges planned for August at the request of the rest of the people in our Facebook health group who wanted to continue the step challenge into August so that's going to be the 2nd challenge. We're probably still going to use the same one as July but that's not fully decided yet.

The main challenge is going to be one we haven't tried before... a daily yoga pose challenge that we're getting from this site... 31-Day Yoga Challenge and not only do they explain the poses but they give a video for each one as well.

My goal for the steps is to continue to hit 10,000 steps on as many days as possible and I'm really looking forward to learning some new yoga poses!

I had a great abs workout today (and SO feeling yesterday's leg day!) but I had to slightly modify the V-Sit Twists because they were too hard on my back so I stayed in the "V-Sit" instead of going back down after each one and did obliques while I was up there so... I guess I'm calling to call it "V-Sit Obliques?"

And then I had to massively modify the Leslie Sansone DVD that I did today. It was one of the new ones and three of the miles has boosted sections. Normally boosted sections in the DVDs are low to the ground jogging, kicking and knee lifts but this one had a lot of jumping/hopping and twisting and all of that is out for me. It was a good but not the best for me. Still, even with modifications, I got a great workout!

I started out the day in a great amount of pain due to fibromyalgia to the point where I tried to do my first 1,000 steps and my right hip almost felt dislocated (usually it's my left hip that does that). I was afraid and upset that I would have to take another rest day when my trainer suggested gentle yoga so I pulled out my "Candlelight Yoga" DVD and did that and I actually feel better!

I always forget how much I love this DVD until I do it and I think I'm going to incorporate it into my weekly workout. Maybe something like: A days, then yoga, then moving on to"B" days plus yoga and then C days plus yoga.

I'm also going to still get up every hour and try to do the 1,000 steps an hour I normally do but I have to go slowly because the pain is lesser but still there, but, doing something is better than doing nothing!

And I am beyond thrilled that my Princess Bride quote tank-top that I bought last June (and was too tight last June) fits perfectly now!!

Here is is in a comparison photo of 223 lbs (7 lbs down from my highest weight of 230) vs 184 lbs (39 lbs down between photos and 46 lbs down total)!

I still have a long way to go but seeing great progress like this feels amazing!

Friday, July 28, 2017

Another great workout today! I really liked the new Leslie Sansone DVD I tried, especially the new and combined moves and I would have gone the whole 3 miles instead of 2 if my back wasn't bothering me! I'm also going up to 10 lbs from 8 lbs on the Bent Over Row next time around.

Wow... I am on day 50 of low carb/keto with no cheating. Day 50!! I'm not sure if I knew I would get here. I think a part of me knew while another part kept preparing for failure and being surprised when that failure didn't happen since it has so many times in the past.

So what was it that changed? What was it that flipped that obsessive switch in my head and I went from cheating and going back and forth on my plans to sticking with one plan for this long?

The first thing that started the process was actually months and months ago, if you guys can believe that, it just didn't fully stick until the second thing and here they are.

I was watching an early season 5 episode of "My 600-Pound Life" and the woman's son was interviewed towards the beginning and what struck me was exactly what he said... "I've caught my mom sneaking food but she says it's her cheat day... but it seems like every day is her cheat day." and I went "Oh. My. God. That is me only 500 lbs lighter."

I even yelled out to Dmitri (who, I think along with everyone else in the house was sick and tired of me making promises and making plans and then breaking them all) and I told him the quote and he said, "Yeah, that's exactly what you do." And that realization just hit me so hard. I knew I was letting my kids down and they didn't trust the things I said anymore when it came to myself and food. So not only was I harming my body and my mental state but I was actively harming my family without even realizing it.

That was the first thing. I did cut down on "cheat days" after that but they still remained and grew and grew until they were out of control again. And then came the second thing.

Now, you would think the second thing would have been my size 14's getting tighter and tighter. Or the scale inching up closer and closer to 200 lbs again. Or my constant cravings for sugar, carbs and crap food. Or the fact that I wasn't working out the way I wanted, was sleeping too much, was exhausted with headaches and chronic pain and all these things that I KNEW low carb and keto made better.

But, no. It was none of those things. It was a magazine article I stumbled across while on Facebook and I really wish I had a link to it.

It was about a woman who had lost 125 lbs on keto in 18 months (or something like that) and what struck me was the last few lines which said that in the entire time she has been on this diet, she has not had one cheat day.

Not one cheat day.

And instead of thinking that I would never have the willpower to do that, or that I could never accomplish that or feeling jealous of her or any of those things, my first thought was... if she can do it so can I.

Why did I suddenly sound so convinced to myself that I could this after failing time after time after time? I don't know but I told Gabriel and Charles that this was what I was doing and, you know, they went along with it but I honestly think that no one really expected me to stick to it. Except me. Somehow I knew that this time would be different.

It's as if something changed with that thought of me succeeding. Like a switch was flipped. One day I'm floundering back and forth and back and forth like I had been for over a year and the next day I am ready and willing to face this challenge and beat it.

What flipped that switch? What made me suddenly, actually believe in myself? Maybe that was the moment I was truly ready? I don't know but something in that thought of being capable just worked and obviously has been working because I am doing it.

Today is day 50. Before this try I never went past day 30 without cheating. Now "cheating" doesn't exist for me and I have no intention of stopping. Of course I'm nowhere near 18 months but I am doing this and I am sticking to this and I like to think that my kids are proud of me for the hard work that I'm doing and for actually keeping my word like I said I would. They might be a little more shocked than proud but I know there's some pride in there somewhere.

So... that's it so far. 50 days have gone by and I will keep going with my plan in all day to come, be they 50 or 500.

There is no going back now. There is only forward and I'm ready for it!

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Okay, so today was a slightly crazy day and my body was really tired so I had to modify my workout to something basic. I decided to finally try out my Karen Voight "Pure and Simple Stretch" DVD. It was very obviously set in the 80's and while it was okay, I really prefer "Candlelight Yoga" for the way it runs, the instructor, music and for the stretches so I don't think I"ll be doing this one very often.

I'm also going to hit 10,000 steps again today and should be back on Pull Day "C" and cardio tomorrow! I can't wait to give another "C" day a try!

Yes!! Another 1.4 pounds down and I passed my short-term goal of 185 lbs! My new short-term goal is to hit 180 pounds and when I hit that I will have lost 50 pounds and be half way to my goal!!

This also means that I've lost a total of 45.8 pounds and a total of 14.4 pound since I started low carb/keto with no cheating seven weeks ago!

As you can tell from my entries, I've been working very hard on both my eating and my exercise and I've hit 10,000 steps a day or more (over 12,000 yesterday) for the last six days in a row! It's so great to see all this hard work paying off and I feel and look better and better every day.

Actually, some of my newer t-shirts are getting too big for me and I only got to wear them for about two months. Luckily I have a lot of older clothes that I never got rid of in smaller sizes that I can wear now which is great because I don't want to keep buying clothes that I will shrink out of in eight or so weeks.

My plan for this week is to continue as I have been. Tomorrow is day 50 of low carb/keto without cheating and I see no cheating in my future any time soon. I'm even sticking to the plan on our vacation (back to Essex, CT for the steam train and stuff) in just over two weeks and I'm okay with that. A small part of me would love to just eat whatever that weekend but I now that 1) it would cost me weeks of weight loss and 2) I would feel incredibly sick all weekend and ruin the whole trip.

I do have one cheat meal sort of planned but that's not "scheduled" to happen until I hit my first plateau just to shock my body and even then, I'm not quiet sure I want to do it. It's just a thought that I'm tossing around but I'm hoping I have another few months before I have to deal with that!

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

I went ahead and added four more Leslie Sansone walking cardio DVDs to my collection. This way I can keep from being bored with my cardio which makes me more likely to keep doing it!

I'm also really excited that all of these DVDs have more than one workout one them!

The "5 Boosted Miles" can be split up into the miles is I want to do that day, the "3 Different Miles" obviously has three workouts, the "4 Mile Power Walk" has three workout options and the "Burn to the Beat" has three different walks on it as well, plus I can always mix and match what I want and I have all the others I already own.

Today I started my new Day "C" workouts and it felt great! I worked really hard and I think I hit the spots that I may be missing in the "A" and "B" days. I also did one of the walking DVDs for cardio and have several new ones coming today so I can keep doing cardio almost every day and not get bored with it!

Sunday, July 23, 2017

So I was having a fantastic interval treadmill workout and 23 minutes into the the treadmill died. I know we bought it used but we were really hoping to get more than two days out of it :/ Of course, we were offered a full refund (which we're taking) and they will come take it away next week but it's still disappointing especially since I only got 23 minutes into it. I guess it's back to savings for a new one and doing the walking DVDs in the meantime!

Also, I upped the resistance bands on the hip adductors and abductors from just a red band to the green and red band combined! Everything else stayed the same.Leg Day B - Quads, Hamstrings and Calves Plus Cardio: 1 hour, 35 Minutes Total Time

Saturday, July 22, 2017

I am doing so great with my workouts and I am loving them. Yes, they're hard and some exercises aren't my favorite but I love the general workout plan that I have and totally love strength training.

What I did need was some cardio that I didn't hate. I'm not a fan of cardio in general (unless it's walking/hiking outside) and it's been way too hot and humid for that plus I never end up breaking a sweat except for the aforementioned humidity, so I've been wanting to get a treadmill for a while now but knew it would have to be a used one and, once again as they have many times in the past, Great Northern Liquidation came through!

(We need to clean it up and please excuse the mess, it's in the basement where we store stuff and things are really piled up right now due to plumbing work and making room to get the treadmill in).

Not only did we get a very affordable treadmill that I am loving so far (it got here this morning) but they delivered the treadmill and set it up in one fell swoop. Now I just need to hope it lasts for a while because I did 35 minutes on it today and loved it. This is definitely a form of cardio I can do every day!

On top of that, despite loving my current work out, there were several exercises I wanted to add (but not make each workout day even longer than it already is) and several I knew I should add instead of avoiding them (like lunges) so after giving it some consideration, I decided to add a "C" day to the mix... Push/Pull/Legs and Abs Day "C" with the same amount of exercise I do on the "A" and "B" days.

I worked very hard on these plans and the exercise choices and I'm really happy with what I came up with. I will be challenged but not overdoing it at the same time and it'll give me more variety. And when things become boring I can rearrange the days and exercises, move things around and end up with a whole new basic plan.

So, as soon I'm done with the "B" days this week I'll be moving right into the "C" days. Woohoo for updating the plan!

I had a great work out today! I love our "new" treadmill and the 35 minutes on it in addition to Pull Day B just flew by. I can easily see myself using it almost every day! Let's hope it holds out for a while!Pull Day B - Back, Traps, Biceps & Forearms: 1 hour, 48 Minutes Total Time

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Six weeks low carb/keto with no cheating and I am down to my lowest weight since April of 2006!

In these last six weeks I've lost 13 pounds, worked harder than I have in the last year at both diet and exercise and it's paying off!

I know I have weeks coming up when I'll stall or lose nothing for a while but I feel more ready to handle that than I was last week. In fact, the scale did not move at all this week until 2 days ago and I handled it very well and diplomatically but I am enjoying the weight loss while I can!

I'm now only 0.6 lbs away from my short-term goal of 185 pounds and then the next short term will be 180 lbs which will equal a 50 pound loss :O I can't wait!

I've done well with food this week although I did stick to a lot of the same things so I'm branching out into more recipes this week: I plan to try to make cloud bread, eat the taco salad I found buried in the downstairs freezer and Charles is going to make a keto garlic Parmesan shrimp recipe.

I'm also handling the cravings well. I have some keto pizza coming tomorrow (can only order it online here and I've heard some amazing things about it), tried some new low carb/keto chocolate today and am basically finding substitutions for the things I crave that I can have and not ruin my plan.

And I'm doing great with exercise. There are days when I have to take off two days in a row and days where I can work out 4 or 5 days in a row so I'm taking it as it comes and also sticking to the walking challenge.

I also saw my doctor this week and he is thrilled with my progress and agreed to halve my cholesterol meds, take blood in 3 months and see if I can control my cholesterol with diet and exercise! One of my main goals was to get rid of as many of my non-psych meds as possible so this is step one!!

I have never gotten past 30 days of no cheating before so I'm thrilled with that! The thing I'm not thrilled with is that the cravings and the want for carbs is getting worse and worse. I fight it every day because I'm not about to mess this up but it's hard and I honestly expected it to get easier, not harder as time went on.

I know trying out some new keto recipes and foods will help and I've been working on that and have some plans for that after grocery shopping on Thursday.

It's also frustrating that the scale hasn't moved all week despite me doing everything right but I'm not freaking out about it this time. I need to face the facts that the scale won't move every week and I've been really lucky to have it go down every week so far in the last five weeks.

Weight loss is not linear and there's hundreds of things that could be affecting it right now from the weather, to female things, water retention, to bathroom issues, to eating more or less and more. It's hard because cravings are so much easier to deal with when the scale just keeps going down and down but it is what it is. Plus, I still have 2 days but if I don't lose this week then I don't lose.

My plan now is just to keep going with it all like I have been and just make sure I keep trying new foods, recipes or combinations of those so I don't get bored with the same thing.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Today was a good workout day. I was able to hit 70 seconds or more on every plank and I went up from 10 lbs to 12.5 on two our of three sets pf the prone hamstring curl. NO cardio still but I am hitting my step goals for the challenge and plan to do cardio tomorrow with Ab Day A.

Leg Day A - Quads, Hamstrings and Calves: 1 hour, 24 Minutes Total Time

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Today is better but still not great. I did okay with my regular workout but I was only able to handle 5 minutes of cardio because my legs still felt exhausted and weighed down and I knew that tomorrow was leg day. Hopefully I can do cardio tomorrow but in the meantime I'm going to make sure to hit my step goal for the day.

I added the exercise bar to my lat pulldown and it made a huge difference in how the exercise worked and how much more it was like the machine at the gym with the bar. Definitely one of my better ideas!

Also I went up from a black band to a red band on the band shrug and I tried to go up to 8 lbs from 5 on the reverse fly but couldn't hold my form correctly so I went back to 5's. Everything else stayed the same but I will definitely be going up on the lat pulldown band next time!Pull Day A - Back, Traps, Biceps & Forearms: 1 hour, 06 Minutes Total Time

Saturday, July 15, 2017

It's a high pain day out of nowhere. They have become fewer and much more far between since doing keto but it's not like I can get rid of them.

Today they cost me the church picnic, my workout, my step challenge goal and any time spent with Charles (we had walks planned at the picnic and everything). But, I did exactly what the above states. I knew if I didn't get that rest today that tomorrow would be even worse. Now I'm hoping tomorrow will let me function like I normally do!

And it's not just pain today. It's a deep ache, with complete exhaustion but with the inability to sleep it off. I feel like I'm weighed down by sandbags and I'm annoyed with it on top of everything. I want to do my workout damn it!

And to add to the fun, the carb desire is eating away at me. I can't exactly call them cravings because they don't feel like cravings. And, no, I will not be giving in and cheating but the want is there and it's growing. Pizza, pasta, takeout, pastries, donuts, bread, cake, pie... anything and everything I stopped eating is dancing through my mind and calling out to me.

It's sort of weird that it's coming now when I've gone 5 weeks with almost no cravings. I think it started with grocery shopping on Thursday because they were baking fresh chocolate chip cookies in the store and the smell was just so freaking amazing, but definitely not amazing enough for me to eat them.

I have come too far and made too much progress to screw it up now. At 5 weeks in I should be past just ketosis, I should actually be in, or very close to, the fat adaptive/keto adaptive metabolic state and I'm not giving that up for some cravings but the fact that cravings and desires still exist should be shared.

Most of the last five weeks of blog posts have been super positive and exciting about how great I feel and how great I'm doing on low carb/keto. I'm not going to avoid sharing when I struggle and feel not so great. Right now I feel like I could easily down a medium takeout pizza, or a huge, unhealthy meal with lots of carbs from McDonald's or even a cheesecake or two and I don't even eat those crazy amounts of food anymore but my brain is calling for them.

It's not going to happen but occasionally I wish it would just for the taste and the satisfaction of it all.

So, anyway, I'm going to spend the rest of today resting and recovering and hope for a much better and more productive day tomorrow!

Friday, July 14, 2017

I hit a 90 second plank today! Woohoo!! Also, all 5 of today's planks were 60 seconds or higher and, yeah, the last two were killer to hit the 60 seconds but I did it!

I also went up on a lot of my weights and adding the tricep rope that I recently bought made all the difference in the tricep pulldowns exercise! The workout took longer than usual because I was working a lot harder but it was definitely worth it! I went from 8 lbs to 10 lbs on the flat bench press, from 5 lbs to 8 lbs on the bench fly, from a blue band to a green band on the lateral raise, green band to black band on tricep pulldowns, and from 5 lbs to 8 lbs on both the crossface extensions and the tricep kickbacks. The seated dumbbell press and bent over raises stayed the same. I did attempt to go up to 5 lbs from 3 on the bent over raises but my body just wasn't ready to do that and to keep good form so I went back to 3's.

Another 1.2 pounds down!! I was a little worried about weight loss this past week due to being away for several days and a lot less working out but I stuck with the plan and it paid off!

It's been five weeks of low carb/keto and I've lost weight in every week so far. I know this won't go on forever, that things will slow down, there may be some gains and there will be plateaus but I am going to keep going to matter what and enjoy the losses as they come!

My plan for the week is basically the same as last week except I'll be able to work out more since I'll be home. The only day I may need to take a big break is Wednesday because thats' when the plumbers are coming and they will be here all day (so no water or bathroom) and I'd rather not work out in front of them.

Saturday is the church picnic but I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to eat meat, cheese and low carb veggies and ignore the rest of the goodies that are bound to be there.

I do have to say that grocery shopping was a little harder today. The bakery section looked and smelled amazing but I held strong and got what I needed and not what my nose was telling me I need. Sometimes it does get hard but I'll be okay as long as I don't give in!

I am proud of the fact that I've really upped my veggies and berries this past week and I definitely plan to keep doing that because they're yummy and good for me. I'm also teaching myself to eat veggies without dressing. Granted, when I do use use dressing it's low carb and maybe 1/2 to 1 tbsp total but I still want to really focus on tasting the veggie and not the dressing.

Abs Day B coming up later today with long cardio (if my legs hold out, they're exhausted from yesterday) and I think that about covers it for now!

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Leg Day B is done! I seriously think this workout is harder than Leg Day A and I'm not sure if I've sweated that much in a long, long time but I feel great. Abs Day B tomorrow and long cardio!

I upped several things in the workout today. My heavy weighted glute bridge went from 20 lbs to 25 lbs, mini plie pulses from 10 lbs to 15 lbs, the heavy weighted squat went from 20 lbs to 25 lbs and I added 5 pound ankle weights to that and to the donkey kick, but they were added to the heavy weighted squat just because it was easier than taking them on and off between the two different exercises, and then I added a 15 lbs dumbbell across my thighs to both the toe calf raises and heel calf raises (I forgot to add the dumbbell last time :/ ). I kept the adductor and abductor at the red band but I may raise it next time around, I'm not sure.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

It feels so great to be back to my regular workouts! I did try and start cardio but within a minute I knew my legs and back were not ready for it so I'll try again tomorrow.

I was able to go up on weights and bands on several things so I'm happy about that! I went from a black band to a red band on the standing band row, from 5 lbs to 8 lbs on the incline bicep curls, 5 to 8 lbs on the chest supported row, green to black band on the bicep front and side curls, from 10 to 15 lbs on the dumbbell shrugs and 8 to 10 lbs on the concentration curl.

We're back after a great weekend (well, we were back yesterday) and now I'm ready to get back to my workouts!

Yesterday was a horrendous pain day, the worst I've had in a very long time. Between my back radiating pain from one spot (the same one I pulled during the Fire Fighters thing) with every movement and every step I took, to my neck and hip feeling completely off and over to my right forearm that felt like a knife was going through it every time I flexed it, lifted something, squeezed something or used it in any way (let me tell you, driving home was so, so, so bad pain-wise) I was out for the count for most of the day.

Forget working out, I could barely move, so I iced things, rested and slept. I think it was a combo of driving, walking more and sleeping on the couch that did me in. What I should have done was ice my back the moment we got to Sarah's house Friday evening instead of waiting for Saturday afternoon so lesson learned!

We have a much longer driving trip coming up in mid-August but Charles will be driving for that one and now I know when to ice so hopefully I can stay on top of the pain on that trip, plus I'll be sleeping in a bed.

Obviously the fibromyalgia noticed I was doing well and decided to mess with me :/

Anyway, today is 1,000 times better and the only thing that hurts is my left wrist (which didn't even hurt yesterday) kind of like I sprained it, only I didn't do anything to it. Go figure.

On the plus side I stuck with my low carb/keto plan all weekend and didn't cheat a single time despite some amazing desserts being around and I'm pretty proud of that!

So today I get back on track with working out and I can't wait!

Today's plan is Pull Day B and, depending on how I feel at the end of that, a cardio DVD. I'll be posting a workout post once that's done!

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Well, my back is still acting up (icing it now before I have to drive tomorrow) so not much of a workout got done today (I don't think I'm going to hit my step challenge goal amount for today again) but it was a beautiful day so we got in two short, simple outdoor walks so that's better than nothing!

Saturday, July 8, 2017

I had to change the workout plans a little for today because with all the driving and walking around I've done yesterday and today my back was acting up really badly. I iced it for a while and was able to handle planks and a full-body stretch.

It took a little longer than it normally does because I was leading my best friend and her kids in workout and I loved it! It was so much fun!

I think tomorrow we're going to shoot for the 45-minute long stretching DVD but we'll see.

30 days of staying under 50 total grams of carbs and around the 30's in net grams of carbs.

30 days of no cheating.

30 days of low sugar, low carb, new recipes, new keto foods, better choices and more intelligent decisions.

30 days of losing weight, of feeling amazing, of having a ton of energy, of working my butt off in the kitchen and in my workouts, of planning, weighing, measuring and tracking every food and every meal.

30 days of being aware of everything that goes in my mouth. Of losing pounds and inches while finding my willpower and strength.

30 days of a new beginning of my weight loss, my way of eating and my life.

I am so proud of myself. In the last 30 days I have had no crap or junk, aside from a couple of things that fit into my current macros and calories.

I have lost 9.6 pounds in those 30 days and 41 pounds in total. I am able to work out harder and longer each time. I don't need to nap and actually find myself waking up earlier and earlier. I have so much energy that I'm not sure what to do with it all. My skin is clear and there's no bloating and almost no stomach issues.

I feel like this is what works for me and this is what I will continue to do until I lose all the weight I have left to lose and probably beyond that. Some days there may be exceptions, maybe once or twice a year, but I will deal with that later.

I have never gone past 30 days without cheating before but this time I'm not even considering it. Those foods are just no longer part of my diet or my life and I'm okay with that. I don't crave them at all anymore and that feels great.

I knew I had this willpower somewhere! Granted, it took me far too long to find it, but the point is I did find it and I am not letting go of it for any reasons!

So, here's to celebrating the last 30 days, the next 30 days and all the days that are to come after that!

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Yes! Another pound down and I'm finally in the 180's! This is my lowest weight since October of 2007 and I still feel amazing!!

I haven't cheated in the 4 weeks I've been doing this although I have gone a little overboard on those amazing Enlightened Salted Caramel ice cream bars. Yes, they fit my plan, my macros, my calories and I'm still losing weight but I really don't need one almost every day and I could be having berries or some fruit or more veggies in their place. So I'm cutting them back to Thursdays (my higher carb day) and special occasions (and maybe really hot and humid summer days).

On Saturday I will hit 30 days low carb/keto and I get my first reward ( a weapon, but I haven't decided what kind yet lol) and I can't wait to hit that number because I don't think I've ever gotten past 30 days with no cheating before!

As for working out, I love what I'm doing and how I'm pushing myself but today will have to be a rest day (excluding the step challenge) because my body is just exhausted. Tomorrow will be a step day due to traveling and I have two DVDs planned for this weekend, the Candlelight Yoga DVD and a long stretching DVD that I haven't tried yet but can't wait to do. Once I get back Monday morning I'll be right plan to my regular workout plan!

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

These days I hate putting working out off until later in the day, working out in the mornings just really gets me going, but I not only had work, the plumber was here for a while working on a estimate on a lot of issues so I ended up doing Push Day B (and really pushing myself) but not cardio (and I still have 3,000 steps to go to hit today's step goal).

I did go up on almost all my weight amounts and my plank time was awesome today! I went from 3 to 5 lbs on the isolation rear delt, 5 to 8 lbs on the incline dumbbell fly and incline dumbbell press, from a green band to a black one on the band tricep kickbacks, 8 to 10 lbs on the overhead tricep extension, 10 to 15 lbs on the dumbbell cross face pullover and 3 to 5 lbs on the skull crushers and I feel great!

Monday, July 3, 2017

So I mentioned on today's Motivational Monday that I wanted to expand on this thought... (different image, same message...)

I think this right here is what's making me stick to the plan and succeed this time around.

As of today I am twenty-five days into low carb/keto with no cheating and I am loving how I feel and how I look.

But why am I succeeding now after failing over and over again for a good year? Well, partially the idea of not cheating at all and partially the concept above.

Not cheating and making the right choices is so much easier now that I don't look at junk food and high carb foods and think... "it's not fair that I can't have that!" and then feel sorry for myself and then give in.

Instead I look at the food and think, "nope, not for me because I'm choosing not to eat this" and I move on.

I feel like letting go of that "unfairness" and that feeling of denial and punishment has been incredibly empowering to me.

I'm in charge, not the food.

I make the decisions, not the cravings.

I control myself, not my carb and sugar addiction.

It's a shame it took me so long to get to this point but I learned something in everything that I did so instead of looking at this as a wasted year, I'll look at it as a year of learning about myself, my emotions, my eating, my strengths and my weaknesses.

Choosing not to have something that will mess up my plan and my success is so... I guess I'll use the word "empowering" again. I feel like it frees me from the obsessions and the addiction and the longer I do this, the easier it gets. Not cheating has totally shut off that binging switch in my head and that feels amazing!

Sure, I know that food would taste great, but how it would make me feel and the weight I would end up gaining just makes it not worth it at this time and I don't see myself changing this way of eating anytime soon. Maybe a day will come along when I allow something I don't normally have into my day, maybe some kind of special occasion, but, again, that will be my choice and my decision, not something that's guided by cravings and addictions.

And I love that I have that kind of control now. It makes all this hard work worthwhile!

Today's workout was Leg day A, tough but so worth it! I'm loving pushing myself harder with each day!

I did have some "technical difficulties" as Gabriel put it with some equipment; first my 10-pound ankle weight straps started falling apart and wouldn't hold the ankle weight is place so I switched to the lighter ankle weights and upped the dumbbell amounts to make up for it and then the orange band, while fitting through the bottom anchor for the hip extension, had no way to attach the ankle strap to it because the handles on that band don't come off, so I ended up using two bands together (red and green) to make the exercise harder to do.

I'm going to look around for heavier ankle weights that are better quality but it was hard to find these to begin with. I'd stick with just upping the dumbbells when needed but it was hard enough fitting the 15 pound dumbbell between my feet for that particular exercise and the next size up is even bigger so we'll see.

So today I basically upped the following... the band side steps (monster walk) went from the red band to the orange band (numbers below), I upped dumbbells on the quad extensions and hamstring curls (once again, all weights and numbers below because it's easier to list them all there), the hip extension went from a red band to red and green bands combined and the dumbbell dead lift went from 5 lbs to 8 lbs.

Leg Day A - Quads, Hamstrings and Calves: 1 hour, 28 Minutes Total Time

Sunday, July 2, 2017

I had a great workout today after finally getting rid if the headache that plagued me pretty much all night and early morning.

I decided that with each workout, I don't just want to try and do the same amount of weights and resistance bands that I did the previous workout (unless they were just the right amount). Instead I want to push myself to lift and move heavier and if it's too much, I'll listen to my body and scale it back but each workout is a chance to do better than the workout before, not to stay in one place!

So today I was able to go from 3 lbs to 5 lbs on the incline dumbbell reverse fly, up to a red band from the black band on the band shrugs, and up to 8 pounds from 5 pounds on the hammer curl, the upright row and the dumbbell curl!

I also did a 46 minute cardio DVD but I didn't do all of the arm moves (since I fried my arms during the earlier workout) and I didn't use the hand weights, I just focused on the cardio itself.

It's a new workout week (week 2) and I am right on top of it! I'm feeling great and I was able to go up to 8 lbs on the dumbbell press and 5 lbs for all three sets on the crossface tricep extension and the dumbbell tricep kickbacks. I also think I can go up on band on the tricep pulldowns next time around as well!Push Day A - Chest, Shoulders & Triceps Plus Cardio: 1 hour, 48 Minutes Total Time